Having urged his Somerset side to "get off to a flying start" at Headingley yesterday, Marcus Trescothick got into the pilot's seat and led by example. In his first game as captain, the former England opener got his first century of the summer at the first time of asking, reaching 117 off 175 balls.

Andrew Gale was yesterday appointed captain of Yorkshire as a replacement for Anthony McGrath, who stood down at the beginning of the week, and believes that, with the backing of the senior players in the dressing room, he can improve the struggling county's fortunes.

The word "jocks" either conjures up images of Scots or American high school quarterbacks. While the former may be envisaged as dour, stony-faced and apparently under a permanent black cloud, we would not expect the latter to be affected by any kind of mental anguish. The whole point of the expression is that sporting achievement among the young goes hand in hand with immunity to any kind of introspection. After all, they get the prettiest girls, the open-top cars, the adulation of the crowd. The quarterbacks, that is, not the Scots. Who needs a convertible under all those black clouds?